An 11-year-old boy who nearly lost his right hand in a shark attack said today he looked forward to going fishing again -- shark fishing.

"I'm going to get him," Aaron Perez grinned, when asked if he had a message for the shark that attacked him July 25 as he wade-fished with his family on Bryan Beach in Brazoria County.

Perez and his parents, Blas and Thelma Perez, and Dr. Emmanuel Melissinos, the Memorial Hermann Children's Hospital microsurgeon who reattached the boy's right forearm after the attack, all appeared at a news conference telecast locally and nationally this morning.

Aaron Perez told again the story of how he was standing in a school of fish when the shark, thought to be a bull shark, grabbed him. He said he began punching the creature in the gills, as he had learned on the Discovery Channel just the day before.

The shark was bigger than his dad, and ugly, Aaron Perez said.

"Aaron weighs 60 pounds," Blas Perez said. "The shark was throwing Aaron all over the place like a rag ... It was like a dogfight, they were going at it."

Blas Perez and his friend Don Townes began beating at the shark with their fishing rods and among the three of them, were able to chase the beast away and get the injured boy out of the water.

Thelma Perez said she heard the three shouting out in the surf and at first, "I thought they were excited because they had caught a really big fish, and I ran to get my camera."

Melissinos said the care Aaron Perez received from his family immediately after the attack, and from the critical care nurses aboard the Life Flight helicopter that brought him to the hospital, played a great role in the success of the four-and-a-half-hour surgery to reattach the boy's arm.

"He has surpassed all our goals up to now," Melissinos said of Aaron Perez's recovery. Melissinos said Aaron Perez began physical therapy last week, and could be finished with the therapy in as little as six months.

"I expect him to do very well," the doctor said.

With his right arm in a sling and his right leg covered by a long bandage, Aaron Perez wore a T-shirt with an open-jawed shark on it today, and said his friends think what happened to him "is pretty cool."

"I don't care for it," the 11-year-old added. He said his arm hurts and itches and what he looks forward to most is going home, eating his mom's chalupas, and "I don't know, just, back to normal."